She sat down unable to believe what had happened. “This cannot be real”, she thought. But deep inside her, she knew that it was happening for real- more real than the breakfast she had eaten earlier in the morning, more real than the arguments she had with Roland every single day since the last week. The universe, like some kind of famous demanding director, set the perfect scene and gave Celeste the leading role. It was two hours after midnight, the moon was covered by the clouds, and the narrow path was darker than any other time, and full of mist. She was sitting on the rusty exit ladder of the building, confused, shocked and kind of stunned. There were wires and small pieces of metal everywhere, giving you the impression that a fight had taken there. As a matter of fact, it was a fight. Celeste's fight with her own demons, her own fears. Earlier in the morning, Celeste woke up again sweating and screaming some weird words. She had that nightmare,the same for the tenth time this month. She could not explain it at all, however she was thinking about it the whole time. Even that time of the day, her white full of freckles complexion was surprisingly soft and bright, and her big, round eyes with that unusual green color,were giving a joyful touch in the dull atmosphere of the dark room. Roland, the first time he met Celeste,joked by telling, that she could not be a human person, and God's angels left her to earth as a part of an exile. She was eating breakfast-sausages with eggs and that very rare plant that was only produced in United Europa, when Roland came back home. “Which will be his excuse now?”, she wondered. He did not say a single word, just waved and went straight to their bedroom. “Not this time Celeste, stay calm, dress up and go at work". And that's what she did. She was working in the IT department in one of the best companies for space trips. Due to the fact that she was extremely good working with machines, which was strange for a girl, sometimes they even called her to fix small damages in the spacecrafts. She loved her job for sure, and there was no need to resign and be a housewife, especially when Roland's last job was when he was selling lemonades, as a teenager. Roland was around forty years old, much older than her. For someone who was not working at all and spending most of his day sleeping or drinking, he had way too many wrinkles in his face. Since he had met Celeste, his life was not that complicated. He was wandering around the city every night, from bar to bar, like a scum. He was not even putting an effort into finding a job and that was the main reason of the fight between them. But he loved her from the bottom of his heart. No one could deny it. She arrived back home at eight in the evening, safe with only some minor wounds on the head and she was lucky enough for that because of a strange incident on the way back. She had some kind of illusion while driving. She was lying on the bed of a dirty old basement and hearing some sharp noises. Men with white uniforms were everywhere, and she could feel their eyes on her. It was the exact scene from her nightmare. All of a sudden, the annoying loud noises of horns put her back in reality, and saved her from a brutal crash. She stayed out of the road devastated for a while. “This should mean something. The same basement again and again.. I cannot be that crazy”. She got in the room, and felt the cold, neutral aura immediately. Roland did not bother to welcome her back. “He will even stop doing this simple gesture now”, she thought. She had a shower, and returned to the room, but Roland was in the same position, lying on the bed. And that very moment, her eyes went straight to a spill of blood. She spent the next five minutes speechless, watching the spill getting bigger, and turning the white shiny sheets into a bloody bizzare painting of an odd artist. She laid down on her knees and stayed there. She was not crying, he loved him so much, but not a single tear dropped from her eyes. “A long series of fights the whole week ended up with a death, the day we did not even talk to each other... Is this some kind of irony...? “She stood up and walked to the window. She knew exactly what she had to do. A last kiss, to Roland's dead body. “I will never forget you”, she whispered towards him. There was neither sadness inside her nor regret. She was empty of those feelings. She came out of the window, cleared her mind of any thoughts and made one step to nowhere. She stayed unconscious for a long time in the dark, when he took a big breath and woke up like trying to come out of a deep ocean. “How is it possible...” “I survived, falling from the fifth floor...” “..no..no i should be dreaming...” Everything was so dark around her, and for a while she thought she was in hell – yes, she would definitely be going to hell for her sins. Then, she saw her arm, at least a part of it. She was scared so much that almost screamed.
And then she thought of the nightmare, the basement ,the men in white uniforms. She was the last part of the puzzle. “ I am a..a..a..” . She lost her breath. * σημείωση: η εικόνα ανοίγματος του παρόντος άρθρου είναι δημιουργία του bucz.
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